Forum Files #21: Who Should Win The Women's Elimination Chamber?

[klunderbunker]

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Who Should Win the Women's Elimination Chamber?

The last few years have seen the women of wrestling take the greatest amount of strides that the sport has ever seen. They've main evented two pay per views, had the first women's Money in the Bank match and the first women's Royal Rumble. Later this month, the first women's Elimination Chamber match will be held. But who should win?

On February 25, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss will defend her title against Bayley, Sasha Banks, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville and Mickie James. Which of these six should win the match and move on to Wrestlemania XXXIV? For the sake of simplicity, we'll only consider these six options. Let us know who you'll be picking and see if your answer can eliminate the rest and make the main page.

 

[CyberPunk]

At this point, my money is on Alexa to retain. She has had a good reign and has worked her ass off to be where she is. Bayley has fallen off a cliff and has no momentum while Sasha's reign doesn't sound that interesting as she has had multiple reigns. Sonya, Rose and Mickie James are just making up numbers and are going to eat pins from the other three women.

The most interesting aspect of this match, and the only way I see Alexa losing her title is if Sasha turns heel before or during the match. Even then, I think it will be to kickstart a program with Bayley instead of winning the title from Alexa. I believe this can benefit both women who are pretty much stale in their current roles.

Alexa is already the first woman to have won both Raw and Smackdown women's title, she may very well be the first one to win the Elimination Chamber match, so my pick is Alexa Bliss.

 

[Spencesc11]

You should probably keep it on Bliss as anyone else would just be a transitional champ until Asuka beat them at Wrestlemania. The Banks heel turn is coming though, you can see it!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm thinking Alexa retains and I think that it's the right call. By the time Elimination Chamber comes around, Alexa's 2nd run as Raw Women's Champion will be on day 185, give or take a day, and I'm of the opinion that there shouldn't be title changes so soon before WrestleMania. She's brought some needed stability to the title, something it didn't really have after Charlotte's 1st run as she and Sasha Banks spent all of 2016 trading the title between them, Bayley's run was lackluster and Alexa's 1st run was good, though I have no idea why they took the title off her just so Sasha could have an 8 day run.

I don't think there's a ton of interest in Mickie James winning the title, neither Mandy Rose or Sonya Deville is ready, WWE has pretty much pissed away Sasha's credibility as a champion and Bayley hasn't really been positioned as a real contender for the past while. So yeah, I think Alexa should retain.

Based on how things are looking, coupled with a gut feeling, I don't see Asuka challenging Alexa Bliss at WrestleMania. She's already beaten her in a non-title match and, frankly, I think people would be more interested in seeing Asuka take on Charlotte. So where does that leave Alexa Bliss for WrestleMania? My guess is against Nia Jax and she drops the title to Nia. By that time, Alexa's 2nd run as Raw Women's Champion will be in excess of 220 days; couple that with her first run and she'll have been champ for a total of about 11 months. Is Nia ready for the title? She's gotten better, in my opinion, and she seems more confident in herself and she's really the only other option other than Asuka at this point.

 

[stingray11214]

Other than Alexa Bliss, there is nobody in that Chamber that makes ANY sense in winning the title at this point. Unless they want a quick 10 second squash, Deville and Rose are non-starters. Neither of them are ready, and are in this Chamber to make up the numbers. Bayley's career is in freefall, as creative is clueless what to do with her. Baylay has done herself no favors, either. Sasha Banks is in that same boat. Vince has soured on her. And, Sasha has a rep, rightly or wrongly, of being a danger to herself and others in the ring. If anything, they seem to be setting up a Bayley/Banks storyline.

The interesting twist is with Mickie James. Yes, there are a lot of folks who would like to see James capture the gold. And, why not? She is probably the best technician in that chamber. Problem is that James winning would signal that the Women's Revolution is not what it is shaped up to be if an old "Diva" wins the strap. The Diva's era should stay dead and buried. It would be a real danger to the Women's product if you have a throwback to the Diva's era if Mickie wins. Especially if you are campaigning that you are getting away from that era. It could signal that the "Women's Revolution" was a fraud, and people will crap on it.

So, by process of elimination, Alexa Bliss, who is an OK but not great wrestler, will win and become the ant to Asuka's boot come WrestleMania. Mickie James would be the better match for Asuka. But, Asuka needs to steamroll someone on her way to Ronda Rousey. Bliss is that victim.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

At this point it wouldn't make sense to take the belt off Alexa Bliss. She's been the face of the Raw woman's division for almost a year now So why not let her go into mania as the champion especially if the plan is for Asuka to challenge Charlotte for the smackdown title and somehow get to Nia Jax to challenge for the raw title.

Sure you could put the belt on Bayley and that's what make Sasha finally turn Heel and you go with those 2 at mania for the title but i feel it would be nice to not have the same women's get the mania spotlight every year while everybody else gets put on the back burner until after mania is over.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Ideally they create a story where throughout the show the heel women and Sasha trash talk Rousey and her being in WWE. Have the women work hard. Maybe have Alexa get eliminated shocking the smark crowd. Then when you get down to the final two or three have Rousey come out, break in to the Chamber and beat the remaining competitors down creating a no-contest. Rousey looks dominant, creates a character, Alexa keeps the belt, and it creates more questions to answer on Raw.

And pointing, don't forget the pointing.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

We now know Rousey is going to Raw, but I think we can safely eliminate her from challenging for a world title at Mania 34. Some version of a match vs Steph seems most likely there.

So who wins the chamber? Alexa Bliss seems like the safe bet. Her title run is pushing 200 days, and anyone else winning the chamber would most likely be a transitional champion to Asuka.

That’s if Asuka challenges for the Raw title. Charlotte doesn’t seem to have a key challenger, and Asuka’s lack of announcement is suspicious. Also suspicious is the stip on her match with Nia Jax at Elimination Chamber.

If Nia wins, she’s in the Raw women’s title match at WrestleMania. Now there’s no way that Asuka gets pinned, but what if she loses?

Nia and Bliss have had a long story that’s been building almost since Bliss landed on Raw last year. There’s been tension and a long promised title shot that I’m not sure has happened, or happened clean.

Let’s say Asuka vs Jax goes to no decision, then Jax could claim she didn’t lose. This outcome could also lead to a triple threat between Asuka, Jax, and Bliss.

Now, if Asuka goes to Smackdown to face Charlotte, that creates a booking issue so far as Carmella’s Money in the Bank briefcase goes.

If Asuka goes to Smackdown, Carmella is not going to be successful. There’s no way they’re ending Asuka’s steak before June. There is a way to send Asuka to SDL and have Carmella be successful.

Send her to Raw. That way they have until June to resolve that maneuver and not have the first Ms. Money in the Bank lose her cash in.

So who wins the chamber then? Bliss has lost a lot of steam as she’s conspicuously not defended her title since October. The Chamber win could set the back on track. The real question is, if Asuka stays on Raw: who’s ready?

Could Bliss believably defeat Asuka? She has to be one of the two most believable women in the chamber, the other being Sasha Banks, who also hasn’t done anything of note since the summer.

Putting the title on Banks at the start of what appears to be a heel turn doesn’t seem great. Asuka has just beaten Sasha and banks doesn’t have the built in story that Jax does with Bliss.

Alexa Bliss seems like the opponent. There’s time to make her strong. There’s time to make her seem like a tough opponent again. If only certain people are tough enough to defeat Asuka, then she runs into the Lesnar problem. With Rousey debuting, we really can’t afford to have too many women seeming weak.

Give Bliss the win. Make it clean, make it dominant. Bliss vs Asuka, Bliss vs Jax vs Asuka, Bliss vs Jax (possibly with multiple women). They’re all good options. Banks should get a good run and break her ppv defence losing streak down the road.

 

[LynchCats]

I think Alexa Bliss should win the Elimination Chamber, and then, like at the 2006 Elimination Chamber when Edge won his first world title, have Carmella show up and cash in the Ms. Money In The Bank and make her move to Raw and win her first title. I think Asuka will keep her unbeaten streak alive against Nia Jax by forcing Jax to pass out in the Asuka Lock, proving to be an unstoppable force and then move on to challenge Charlotte for the Smackdown Women's Title. Alexa will claim her rematch clause for Wrestlemania, while Nia claims she never tapped out to Asuka and laying claim to the #1 contendership for Carmella's title, making the Raw Women's Title match at Wrestlemania a triple threat between Nia, Alexa and the champion, Carmella.

 

[Spencesc11]

I would throw the swerve and have Asuka tell Kurt after defeating Nia Jax at the Chamber PPV that she has defeated all the Raw women but hasn't beat Charlotte. So at Wrestlemania she's challenging the Smackdown champion instead. And for the Raw championship you have Banks win the Chamber with a heel turn. Have the Raw Women's championship at Mania be Sasha vs. Bailey. Could have a Nia Jax vs. Bliss #1 contender's match on the pre-show to if you want.

Have the loser of the Charlotte vs. Asuka match (Charlotte) go to Raw after Mania. This would be an agreement worked out between Angle & Shane.

Then you can build to Rousey vs. Charlotte on Raw at Summerslam and let Asuka dominate the blue brand for awhile and keep her undefeated streak alive.

 

[klunderbunker]

Given the current options, Bliss is the only way to go.

Banks and Bayley cancel each other out as they're likely to continue their feud and go on to a Wrestlemania match. If that wasn't the case they would be near the top of the list, but at the moment there's just not much of r a reason gto give either of them the big win.

Mickie James...no.

Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville just aren't anywhere near ready for something like this and are basically the Chris Masters and Carlito from the match on New Year's Revolution 2006.

Really, who else is there but Bliss? WWE has built her up quite well and there's no reason to go with anyone other than her, especially with some kind of a monster, like say Nia Jax, waiting on her at Wrestlemania. Bliss should win and it would just make her seem like an even bigger villain.

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

As others have said Bliss is the most likely to walk into Mania as Woman's Champion. She has all the momentum and has been protected and has become biggest star in the women's division. She makes might face Nia or Asuka or both in a triple threat but no doubt she will retain at Elimination Chamber.
The only other one who might have a chance is Sasha. With how they have been teasing the heel turn with her. Sasha is a better worker than Alexa and would likely have a better quality match if she faced Asuka or whoever else.
Mandy and Sonya are too green so they both cancel out. I can't see them putting the title on Bayley or Mickie who both haven't been protected. I doubt either would get a push especially heading into Mania.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

From all the things considered most obvious answer is Alexa. She is long time Champion and at this time maybe only one with momentum there other then Asuka. Only problem I see with her is believability. I like her but having her at Wrestlemania against anyone named Asuka, Rousey or even Nia isnt really something you could believe she would overcome. And she is not face to "overcome the odds" and win big.

Other then her we have

Sasha- In probably heel turn soon, has some momentum, lots of time in that Rumble performance, but mostly in retraction after that Paige incident and cant see her winning anything big anytime soon.

Bayley- Dark horse in the race but has no momentum and probably has Sasha to feud soon.

Mickie- dont make me laugh

Other two that dont matter and are cannon fodder

If I would have to book: Have Alexa win, have Nia lose against Asuka and then have Alexa recruit Nia to help her at Wrestlemania. Makes more believable thing, fits Alexa character and Asuka can win big at Mania in overcoming that obstacle.

 

[Vintage Punk]

Recently Sasha was talking about how she's ready for Asuka. I think Sasha wins the title at the Elimination Chamber to setup Asuka vs Sasha at Mania. Then I see her gradual heel change coming. The Sasha vs Bayley story woiuld be good (if they do it right of course) however, I don't see them having 3 women's matches at Mania ie Alexa vs Asuka, Sasha vs Bayley, Charlotte vs ?

The only alternative which I'd actually rather see is Sasha winning the title at EC by downright screwing Bayley over setting up their feud and since Asuka hasn't said which women's champ she would face, I'd have her challenge Charlotte and take that title. All of this of course may depend on what they have planned for Ronda Rousey. All I know is that if they can build Bayley back up and get the crowd on her side and have Sasha turn full ruthless heel NXT style, then they have gold with that former friends storyline.

 

[NotoriousWWE]

Alexa Bliss has to win the chamber. There is no other woman in that match with any sort of credibility right now to go on to WrestleMania as the RAW Women’s champion. As many have mentioned, Sasha Banks has had her 50+ title reigns before and when face is better positioned as chasing the belt. Bayley is in a real stutter at the moment. The other three are not worth mentioning. The problem WWE have now though is booking the Asuka vs Nia Jax match. I only see Asuka challenging Charlotte for the SD title which probably means Jax would be facing Bliss. But surely you can’t let Jax go over, since Asuka is still being built as this undefeatable machine? But then you have the problem also of how does (if Jax go over) Asuka then just accept she can’t beat Jax within the storyline? That doesn’t make Asuka’s character look strong. Best scenario is a countout. So yes, Bliss to win the chamber but really i’d have had Nia in the chamber if I was booking it, have her win and Bliss have a Jericho 2010 like break down. She’s got the skills to pull of that type of gimmick.